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Middle Etrandish
Middle Etrandish was a stage of the Etrandish language from 0 BEKE/AEKE to 600 AEKE. Middle Etrandish had marked differences from Old Etrandish, in multiple respects. The birth of the Kingdom of Etrand coincided with a great vowel shift that rendered it mutually unintelligible from its predecessor (although it is likely that the vowel shift was not so sudden, and more like a gradual shift happening between 200 BEKE and 100 AEKE). In addition to internal changes, the language also received a heavy dose of exposure to influence from Middle High Elven - the latter have even contributed four new consonant phonemes to the language, /t͡s/, /ɲ/, /ʎ/ and /gʷ/ and its writing system. Due to the religious changes, a large amount of Classical High Elven loanwords entered the Etrandish language. It is important to note that neither Middle Etrandish nor its predecessor Old Etrandish were in no way a unified monolithic languages, but both had a variety of dialects. Evolution from Old Etrandish Consonants * The voiceless sonorants /m̥ n̥ l̥/ merge with their voiced counterparts /m n l/. /r̥ ʍ/ are preserved, but only word-initially: medial /r̥ ʍ/ become /r w/. * The syllabic consonants /m̩ n̩ ŋ̩ l̩ r̩/ dissimilate to /um ɛn ɔŋ ər ɛl/ ** Word-initial /l̩ r̩/ dissimilate /li ri/ instead. ** The dissimilation of the syllabic consonants happened gradually, and not all of them dissimilated at once. The dissimilation of word-initial /l̩ r̩/ to /li ri/ happened the earliest, already ongoing in Late Old Etrandish, fully complete by early Middle Etrandish. The non-coronal /m̩ n̩/ dissimilated to /um ɔŋ/ relatively early as well, already evident in spellings as early as the reign of King Corlagon I of Etrand. The dissimilation of /l̩ r̩/ to /ər ɛl/ can be dated to around 50-100 AEKE, while the dissimilation of /n̩/ to /ɛn/ happened the latest: as late as 150-200 AEKE, evidenced by the respelling of Etrandn Réct }} to Etranden Réct }} from 212. * Four new consonants are introduced to the language via loanwords from High Elven: /t͡s/, /ɲ/, /ʎ/ and /gʷ/ * Due to exposure to High Elven, the voiced labiodental fricative /v/ has become a phoneme on its own, previously having been only the intervocalic allophone of /f/ Vowels * "Close vowel synthesis" ** /CuCu/ -> /CoːC/ ** /CiCi/ -> /CeːC/ * /ɑː/ becomes /aː/, except before /r l/ ** /ɑːr/ and /ɑːl/ become /ɒːl/ and /ɒːl/ * /ɑr/ and /ɑl/ become /ɒr/ and /ɒl/ * Merger of /æː/ and /æi/ as ɐi̯ * Shift of /æ/ to /ɛ/, except before /r l/ ** /ær æl/ became /ɒr ɒl/ * Shift of /e/ to /ɛ/, except before /r/ ** /er/ became /ər/ ** /eː/ remains /eː/ * Shift of /ø/ to /œ/, except before /r/ ** /ør/ became /ər/ ** /øː/ remains /øː/ * /o/ gets lowered to /ɔ/, while /oː/ remains /oː/ * Diphthong simplifications: ** /yːi̯/ and /yi̯/ merge as /yː/ ** /eːi̯/ and /ei̯/ merge as /ei̯/ ** /ui̯/ becomes /ʊi̯/ ** /øːi̯/ and /øi̯/ merge as /øi̯/ ** /oːu̯/ and /ou̯/ merge as /ɔu̯/ ** /æːi̯/, /æi̯/ and /æː/ merge as /ɐi̯/ ** /ɑːu̯/ and /ɑu̯/ merge as /ɐu̯/ Consonants * x and ç were coda-position allophones of /h/ after back/central and front vowels respectively. * /t͡s/, /ɲ/, /ʎ/ and /gʷ/ were not native phonemes to Etrandish - they were introduced from High Elven loanwords - so monolingual speakers probably mispronounced them ** /ɲ/ was most likely mispronounced as /nj/ ** /ʎ/ was most likely mispronounced as /j/ or /lj/ even in educated speech ** /t͡s/ was probably deaffricated to /s/ in uneducated speech * The voiceless /r̥/ was a relic from Old Etrandish that was already under the process of being merged with the voiced /r/ in all environments. By the end of the Middle Etrandish period, it has completely merged with /r/, and remained only in the spellings of a few family names and personal names. * /r/ was realized in multiple ways, depending on the envorniment: ** Apico-alveolar trill r̺ word-initially and when geminated ** Post-velar (optionally raised) trill ʀ̟~ʀ̟̝ after /k/ and /g/ ** Apico-alveolar/retroflex flap ɾ̺~ɽ medially when not geminated ** Velarized alveolar/retroflex approximant ɹˠ~ɻ in the syllable coda * /ng/ coalesced into /ŋ/ around 300 AEKE * It is rather unlikely that voiceless stops and affricates were already aspirated at this point. Vowels Monophthongs * ɒ and ɒː were allophones of /ɑ/ and /aː/ before /r/ and /l/. * The diphthongs /ɐu̯/ and /ɐi̯/ monphthongized to /ɔː/ and /ɛː/ before /r/ and /l/ around 200 AEKE. * /i/, /y/ and /u/ laxed to /ɪ/, /ʏ/, and /ʊ/ around 350 AEKE. Diphthongs * The dipththongs /ui̯/ and /ɔi̯/ were not native to Etrandish - they were from loanwords from either High Elven or Wood Elven * The Wood Elven loanwords were loaned to Old Etrandish, so they could be considered nativized. * The diphthongs /ɐu̯/ and /ɐi̯/ monphthongized to /ɔː/ and /ɛː/ before /r/ and /l/ around 200 AEKE. Category:Languages of Artograch Category:Elven languages Category:Extinct languages